Seattle recycling company offers glass pickup for several South Sound cities

TACOMA, Wash. — It’s been a few months since the city of Tacoma halted its glass recycling pick-up service. The city says the halt was due to a low demand for recycled glass, and that this issue impacts more cities than just Tacoma across the Puget Sound.

KIRO 7 reached out to the city on this issue, and a spokesperson replied with the following information:

“Our glass recycling processor, Strategic Materials Inc., informed us that it cannot process recycled glass at this time due to low demand. Strategic Materials Inc. would probably be a better source, and can offer an industry perspective, if you’re looking to do a deeper dive into why there is low demand.

We are currently exploring all available options including, for example, long-distance transportation to a recycling facility in Portland and local reuse of glass in concrete aggregate. To make a responsible decision, we are conducting thorough environmental and financial analyses to assess the full impact of each option. This includes evaluating transportation emissions associated with long-hauling against the benefits of recycling. We want to ensure that our chosen path minimizes environmental impact and truly benefits our community in the long term.”

But thanks to a recycling company based right in Seattle, those in Tacoma and other South Sound cities can get glass recycling pick-up once again. The company, Ridwell, says it will be $10 a month if you aren’t a member, $5 if you are.

“Friends told their family and the demand got big enough to where we decided to open another facility down in Fife to serve Tacoma, Olympia, and the areas around there,” Cofounder Aliya Marder said.

Marder took our crews on a tour of their facility in Sodo and explained how exactly it all works.

“So if people choose to add glass on to their membership or do our stand-alone glass program, we’ll get that bag. They can put it on their bin or just by their front door and we will swap it out with a new one,” Marder said.

KIRO 7 asked Marder if it would be a problem if cities like Tacoma changed their mind and brought back glass recycling pick-up services through other vendors.

“If Tacoma and Pierce County were to restart their curbside pick up of glass, that’d be great. We would stop ours, communicate to our members like ‘Hey, here’s a great new option for you and we are thrilled that it’s back,’” Marder said.

For more information on Ridwell’s services, click here.

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